True Medical Training Experiences

As far as I know, anyone who trains to become a physician, no matter what field they decide to specialize in later on, has to go through a training period in which they are required to perform all manner of examinations, as well as to participate in the treatment of a full range of medical problems.

What I'd like to know about are the personal reactions of medical students and interns upon first encountering the more intimate types of exams and treatments. I would imagine most doctors-to-be would have had to have been as nervous and embarrassed as the majority of their patients when witnessing or performing extremely personal procedures for the first time.

So, if you are a doctor, or know a doctor very well as a family member, friend, or working acquaintance - I'd like to read some true stories of what it must have been like for you/them to first encounter instances where one has to perform a very personal examination or procedure on a patient. What were your/their reactions and experiences? Please share your stories!

Dear Addie,

Thank you for your post !

I' a true French, 57 old Dr

Yes , I rememember that it was a litte bit uncomfortable (but fascinating) for a young male student about 20 yers old, to learn performing the examination of the most intimate parts of a female patient body !

Howhever it quickly became more and more easy but, after a ( long )professional life, it's still for me a very great job !

Friendly

Thank you for the reply.

I have long wondered what it must be like for doctors first encountering the more intimate aspects of their chosen profession. I would think they all have to go through a period of mental and emotional adjustment in order to feel comfortable in these situations. I'm very curious to know what that must have been like.

You'll read here and in other venues and media wild stories of medical students going beyond the bounds of propriety. While such events I'm sure do exist - extreme care is taken by the administrative staff to prevent adverse publicity and certified letters from state medical licensure commissions which begin with the words "Dear Defendant..." I remember in our physical diagnosis class there was a young woman with fibroadenomas of her breast (nothing uncommon) - we were allowed to "feel" but she was draped as though she were King Tut before the unwinding!

DrLaennec ClinicalUSMLE (Yahoo chat)

Let me add a caveat to this - we have a mail room where students have individual mailboxes - on the floor is a box where anyone can dump journals, books what-not. I'm a pack rat by nature - there was a book I picked up Medical School Mayhem by David Fletcher in which he describes his first year of medical school in a style that would drive male/female here to near ecstasy! First page describes a physical examination of a classmate. I long thought the book a fanciful fiction of a medfet mind! I was wrong - this guy really existed! Apparently everything he said was scriptura! The book was published in 1980 - times have changed - but still. Here's a citation

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/6603092&referer=brief_results

Find a copy - it gets no better than this

DrLaennec ClinicalUSMLE (Yahoo chat)

Sometimes its just plain funny------- during a particularly difficult vaginal ultrasound on a very pregnant black lady- i had to insert and reinsert the ultrasound probe several times to be able to see the area in question. as i was reinserting it about the sixth time she looked down between her legs at me and said "If you do that one more time you're gonna ring my bell!" it was only me who had the bright red flush on his face.

LOL! That's hilarious, Dr. Grant! 😁

Or should I say "hysterical?"

I can imagine that it as embarrassing for the young med student as it is for the patient. It is great that some people have the humour to overcome the embarrassing situations. 😁

I remember in first year, we were learning how to do a full abdominal exam and I was so excited to finally get to do one on a patient in hospital. When we're doing the exam, we're supposed to continually look at the patient's face to check if they are in pain when we are palpating. Whilst I was conducting this exam on a young man in hospital, his gown began to form a tent (presumably because I was bending over him and had unfortunately worn a quite revealing white blouse). When I finally noticed near the end of the exam (when I was auscultating for bowel sounds and bruits) I was so embarrassed I turned bright red and didn't know what to do as it was the first erection I had ever seen in real life (I was only 17 back then!) and my first ever clinical encounter. Definitely will never forget that man! (unfortunately he had Hepatitis C)

I am not a doctor, but the hubby of my dentist of wife. I never was dreaming or fantasming about medfet or any other "experience" with a medical practitionner.

After we were married for some years, I had to go to the dentist.

So when she free for me 😉, I sit or lay on the seat and open my mouth, and she begin by inspecting my just cleaned teeth and mouth, my right hand was going directly under her dress and was rubing there under, no words, no reaction, she took the "drill" and all my first sensual imagination about female dentist was switched OFF.

Twenty years later we always married, she always dentist, she always take care of my teeths, I never take care of her under dress treasures when she takes cares of my teeths

I remember when i was at 3rd year of medschool, maybe....The teacher choose ME to perform a rectal exam. It was my first, and the patient was an elderly man....

I didn't know who was the more embarassed : me or him.....

How long did it take for you to become comfortable doing rectal exams in the clinical setting, Ninainj?

Not much....soon I became used to them, and since my residency I do in a daily basis.Only today my patients are women.

Nothing special, just another exam like all of them.

As has been said so many times here, work is work, fetish is another thing. The line is clear for me.

When I was a student attached to general surgical teams, we were expected to perform a rectal examination on every patient who came through the door, at least in the emergency department. Add to that the fact that I was trained to do the same when any ward patient was constipated, and I pretty soon got very used to giving rectal exams, doing it quickly, and keeping my cool. Besides which, in the UK we do these with the patient on their side, knees to chest, and so you don't see the patient's face while you're doing it, which helps to limit the embarrassment for the physician at least.

Pelvic exams were another matter. I only ever did a few of these as a student, and never really lost my embarrassment about it. Added to that, I wasn't very experienced at handling (for want of a better word) female genitals, and there's nothing like clumsiness to increase embarrassment all round.

Slightly off-topic, but very much on the subject of embarrassment, I did once attempt a rectal examination on a patient while sleep-deprived on a badly lit ward, and accidentally examined the wrong orifice 😳 Luckily the lady in question was understanding about it. I'd be very interested to know whether any other docs out there have done something similar!

That does make me feel better. Slightly. 😃

Talked to an old friend at a high school reunion who became a doctor. Several drinks into the evening he admitted that in med school he had practiced a digital rectal exam on a fellow student, a woman. I didn’t ask how often such things occurred but wish I’d asked. He said he was nervous doing it.